Potential actionsAlthough the winds are favorable with respect to women’s labor market participation in Latin America, more actions should be taken to reduce the wage gap and favor women’s school-work... Show More + transition:Improvements in transport, increased access to childcare and flexible work schedules can contribute to increasing women’s available time. In Argentina, free public childcare services increased women’s labor market participation by 7% in 2011.Increase access to assets, land and credit. For example, by increasing access to formal credit markets (beyond microcredit) and to financial training. Support vulnerable families. Especially poor households headed by single women.Promote women’s empowerment through training programs and support to the labor-market transition and the creation of women’s employment networks.Additionally, the specialist believes it is crucial to work with the private sector to reduce the wage and employment gap given that this sec Show Less -

The technology that enables us to receive signals from space has advanced by leaps and bounds since the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, just a few decades ago.Today, in addition to photographing... Show More + the Earth or a comet, monitoring activities from above (“spying” to some) and suggesting the best route to the office, satellites are becoming allies for development.The European Space Agency, for example, is providing data and images to international development organizations, which use them to design and implement projects in Latin America and other regions.“The satellite observation of the Earth provides accurate information and can be used all over the world, but it is particularly useful in environments with little information, which is often the case in developing countries,” says Anna Burzykowska, a project specialist at the World Bank.In Latin America, the information transmitted by satellites is used to prevent disasters, measure water pollution and monitor sea levels. The idea Show Less -

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2014 – Through innovative pension systems reforms over the last decade, Latin America expanded pension access by 11 million previously excluded people over 65, according to a new... Show More + World Bank publication launched today at the Inter-American Dialogue.During the decades of 1980 and 1990 most pension systems in Latin America were revamped to improve their financial sustainability, but in recent years efforts have been aimed at achieving greater inclusion from various programs such as expansion of non-contributory pension or flexible entry requirements to traditional contributory pension schemes.Beyond Contributory Pensions: Fourteen Experiences in Latin America (Más allá de las Pensiones Contributivas: Catorce experiencias en América Latina) — notes that recent reforms of pension systems adopted in 14 Latin American countries in the last decade have helped reduce the proportion of the population over 65 with no access to benefits by almost 33%, a change that repr Show Less -

What is to be done, and what will I do?Confronting the biggest challenges of our timeWhat a pleasure it is to be back at Brown to celebrate our 250th anniversary. We are all so proud that Brown remains... Show More + one of the world's leading institutions of higher learning. I'm confident that under President Paxson, Brown's role will grow further still. She understands that academic institutions have an unshakeable responsibility to inspire students as they think about and confront the world's most important problems.The fundamental questions that drove me when I was a student remain the questions we must ask ourselves today:What is to be done in the world, and what will I do?Every one of us, in one form or another, must address these questions. The enormity of the challenges we face force us to do so.I grew up in Iowa in the 1960s and 70s. My parents always encouraged me to strive for excellence and impact. But they had different ways of doing so. My father was a dentist. He taught me the co Show Less -

Exchange rate acts as shock absorber and economic booster In spite of 2.5 % expected growth, pessimism over LAC’s future unwarranted Small countries with less flexible currencies need to find fiscal... Show More + buffersWASHINGTON, OCTOBER 9, 2013 – For the first time, currencies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are absorbing some of the shocks derived from a less friendly global environment, according to the latest report by the World Bank Chief Economist Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Latin America’s Deceleration and the Exchange Rate Buffer. Depreciated currencies not only lower the cost of exports but also raise the cost of imports, making the export and local industries more competitive and boosting job creation. LAC, together with other emerging markets, is entering a new phase of lower growth dynamics, as the tailwinds that blew so favorably in its direction in the recent past continue to recede. Growth rates in middle-income countries in Eastern Europe, East A Show Less -

Private and public sector participationAccording to the analysis, on average, private utilities outperform public utilities – although there are good public and private utilities and underperforming private... Show More + and public utilities. In electricity, for example, labor productivity in private utilities is twice that of public utilities. “When carefully designed and implemented, private sector participation in service provision has a significantly positive effect on labor productivity, efficiency, and the quality of service. In telecommunications, it has also increased output and coverage,” explained Luis A. Andrés, co-author of the study. The private sector alone is not the solution, however. The government, in its dual quality of regulator and service provider, plays a central role in improving sector performance. Independent regulatory agencies are critical and need to be transparent, accountable, and free of political interference. State-owned enterprises need a strong a Show Less -

It’s a pleasure to be here today to discuss the important role of fiscal policy in promoting growth and addressing inequities in developing countries -- as well as helping the World Bank Group achieve... Show More + its core mission of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. In recent years, we have learned important lessons about how fiscal policy can help reduce poverty and inequality, particularly during times of economic and financial turbulence. Today, I will focus my remarks on how the Bank is using these lessons to achieve our mandate. I hope that my remarks will contribute to a robust debate over the course of this important conference.The aspect of fiscal policy that has traditionally received most attention is the need to maintain fiscal sustainability so as to ensure macroeconomic stability. This remains fundamental. An important reason why developing countries showed such resilience during the recent crisis is that they entered it with substantial fis Show Less -

Bolivian Minister Nemesia Achacollo Participates in Event Highlighting Potential of Age-Old and Nutritious Andean CerealWASHINGTON, February 20th, 2013 – In the last eight years, around 3,800 Bolivian... Show More + peasant families have received financing and technical support to farm and market quinoa. Through the Rural Partnerships Project (PAR), the World Bank has supported and financed more than 98 partnerships between small-scale producers and domestic and foreign buyers of this thousand-year old nutritious cereal. Such support has helped increase quinoa sales by 38 percent.Rural partnerships represent an important response to the development of Bolivia’s agricultural sector, one of the least productive in Latin America, with high levels of poverty. In fact, in 2009 it was found that 72.5 percent of Bolivian farmers lived in moderate poverty while 51.5 percent lived in extreme poverty.“In the opinion of the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, PAR is a successful project” that has Show Less -

MR. MILLS: Well, thank you very much for joining us for this closing press conference. Our participants will each make an opening statement and then we'll take... Show More + your questions. If I can ask everyone to please turn off your mobile devices or put them to vibrate, we would appreciate it. Chairman Belka. MR. BELKA: Thank you. As we are late, I am not going to be very descriptive about the meeting of the Development Committee. You know the agenda. The discussion was very rich, centering around the social safety nets, the private sector involvement in growth initiatives, as well we discussed modernization of the World Bank. However, one thing that is obvious, it took so long because all the delegates took the opportunity of this Development Committee meeting to express gratitude and adm Show Less -

Washington D.C., April 20, 2012 –The developing world’s progress is seriously lagging on global targets related to food and nutrition, with rates of child and maternal mortality still unacceptably high,... Show More + says the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2012, released today by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Recent spikes in international food prices have stalled progress across several of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the report says.GMR 2012: Food Prices, Nutrition and the Millennium Development Goals reports good progress across some MDGs, with targets related to reducing extreme poverty and providing access to safe drinking water already achieved, several years ahead of the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs. Also, targets on education and ratio of girls to boys in schools are within reach.In contrast, the world is significantly off-track on the MDGs to reduce mortality rates of children under five and mothers. As a result, these goals will not be met Show Less -

MR. MILLS: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our World Bank Group press conference for the 2012 Spring Meetings. Joining me this morning is the President of the World Bank... Show More + Group, Robert Zoellick, who will have an opening statement and then take some of your questions. If I could please ask everyone when they ask a question to identify themselves and your organization; and once again, I am sure you have been asked, but if we could have our mobile devices switched off or to "vibrate." So, President Zoellick. MR. ZOELLICK: Thank you, Rich. Welcome, and thanks to all of you for coming. This marks my last Spring Meetings as the President of the World Bank Group, so I would like to begin with a few words of thanks to the Ministers who have supported us and worked with us; to our Executive Board, who have labored hard to help our Management team to modernize the important multilateral institution; to the excellent Senior Manageme Show Less -

Washington, April 16, 2012 — World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick today congratulated Dr. Jim Yong Kim for being chosen to become the 12th president of the development institution and offered... Show More + his support in ensuring a successful handover for July 1. “I am pleased to work with Jim Yong Kim during the transition. He is an impressive and accomplished individual. Jim has seen poverty and vulnerability first-hand, through his impressive work in developing countries. His innovations in health-care have helped to save numerous lives. As President at Dartmouth College, Jim has had to take tough managerial and financial decisions while running a large, multidisciplinary organization. His rigorous, science-based drive for results will be invaluable for the World Bank Group as it modernizes to better serve client countries in overcoming poverty.” Show Less -

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 - Dr. Jim Yong Kim today released a statement in response to his selection by the World Bank's Executive Directors as 12th President of the World Bank: “I am honored to... Show More + accept the Executive Directors’ decision to select me as the next President of the World Bank Group. I am delighted to succeed Robert Zoellick, who has served with excellence and distinction during the last five years, and I am grateful to the Bank’s member countries for the broad support I have received. I have spoken with Minister Okonjo-Iweala and Professor Ocampo. They have both made important contributions to economic development, and I look forward to drawing on their expertise in the years to come. It is befitting that I conclude my global listening tour in Peru. It was here in the shantytowns of Lima that I learned how injustice and indignity may conspire to destroy the lives and hopes of the poor. It was here that I saw how communities struggle to prosper bec Show Less -

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 - The Executive Directors met today to select a new President of the World Bank Group. The Board expressed its deep gratitude for Mr. Robert B. Zoellick’s outstanding leadership... Show More + and his dedication to reducing poverty in its member countries, the core mandate of the World Bank Group. The Executive Directors followed the new selection process agreed in 2011 which, for the first time in the Bank’s history, yielded multiple nominees. This process included an open nomination where any national of the Bank’s membership could be proposed by any Executive Director or Governor, publication of the names of the candidates, interviews of the candidates by the Executive Directors, and final selection of the President. The Executive Directors selected Dr. Jim Yong Kim as President for a five-year term beginning on July 1, 2012. The President is Chair of the Boards of Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Internation Show Less -

Policy makers under pressure can get preoccupied with the fixation of the moment. For the eurozone, that idée fixe has been “the firewall”. How big is big enough? Who contributes and how?Now that the eurozone... Show More + finance ministers have exhausted themselves with a multilayered package of hundreds of billions of euros, the debate will go global at this week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The next preoccupation will be how many more hundreds of billions of euros should be pledged to the IMF. It will be Firewall II: the Sequel.I beg to differ. Not with firewalls exactly, but with the preoccupation.The survival of the eurozone now depends on Italy and Spain. They are the countries that are too big to fail – or to rescue. Extraordinary action by the European Central Bank has lowered the interest rates that Italy and Spain pay on their debt, but not solved their problems.In one sense, the much-badgered Germans are right. The fates of Italy and Spain depen Show Less -

Floods in Thailand add further uncertainty. Food crisis in the Horn of Africa continuesWASHINGTON, November 1, 2011–Global food prices remain high and volatile, hitting the poorest countries hardest and... Show More + adding to the strains facing the global economy, according to the World Bank Group’s new Food Price Watch released ahead of the G-20 Summit in Cannes, France. While the Bank’s food price index has dropped 5 percent from its February 2011 peak and dipped marginally in September by one percent, it remains 19 percent above its September 2010 levels.“The food crisis is far from over,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick, who has urged the G-20 to put food first. “Prices remain volatile and millions of people around the world are still suffering. The World Bank has been working closely with the French Presidency of the G-20 and our partner international organizations on actions to protect the most vulnerable from the dangers of food price volatility, while also addressing some Show Less -

The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization estimates agricultural productivity will need to increase by 70% to meet future needs. At the same time, water and land resources are likely to become more constrained,... Show More + and advances in agricultural productivity not as easy to achieve as during the “green revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s, Delgado says.In Africa, seen as the next likely place for a green revolution, agricultural spending had fallen to 3 or 4% of national budgets before the 2008 crisis. International aid for agricultural development also fell to about the same amount.The World Bank's $2 billion, GFRP fast-tracked emergency food security aid during the crisis – including farming inputs such as seed and fertilizer, and financial support for social safety nets. GFRP's assistance reached 44 countries worldwide and 20 in Africa.The Bank Group also has worked with countries to increase financing for agriculture from $4 billion annually to between $6.2 and $8.3 billion in 2010 to 201 Show Less -

WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 16TH, 2011 – The World Bank Group (WBG) Board of Directors approved the new Partnership Strategy with Chile on Tuesday, covering the next six years (2011-2016) and falling within the... Show More + government’s goal of eliminating extreme poverty by 2014.The Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) defines the framework of cooperation between the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation –the WBG’s private sector arm– and the Government of Chile in three main areas aligned with the country’s priorities:Modernization of the State Sector;Creation of jobs and improvement of equity;Promotion of sustainable investments.These three areas form part of an integral approach that seeks to improve the country’s competitiveness, job quality and social protection, while at the same time promoting national and foreign investments, all based on a vision for the country guided by an environmentally sustainable development.“We value the World Bank's contribution and its commitment to supp Show Less -

Sharm el-Sheikh, January 18, 2011 – To strengthen and enhance collaboration in the areas of economic and social development in the Arab World, the League of Arab States (LAS) and the World Bank Group today... Show More + signed a memorandum of understanding at the Second Arab Economic, Social and Development Summit being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.Amr Mousa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States said he welcomes the memorandum of understanding as it is related to the objectives that the League of Arab States is trying to achieve, namely. promoting economic and social development in the region and overcoming the obstacles facing economic integration among the countries of the region.Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mahmoud Mohieldin, Managing Director of the World Bank said that the institution will continue to exert every effort to assure its responsiveness to country’s development needs as well as address priorities specified by Arab countries that strengthen economic integration.He ad Show Less -

WASHINGTON DC, August 5, 2010 - The newly-approved $30 million Haiti grant will go a long way towards financing critical government expenditures but, perhaps just as importantly, will also help build up... Show More + confidence between the government and the Haitian population by addressing their most urgent needs, the World Bank said today.As the Emergency Development Policy Grant helps the government close its budget gap and address accountability in the public sector, it will send strong signals to the Haitians as well as the international donor community that the government is tackling the country's critical needs in a transparent manner, said World Bank regional vice president Pamela Cox."This grant is critical because it will help the government keeps its operations running post-disaster and makes sure that it provides the services that people need to cope with this terrible tragedy," said Cox.Cox was able to assess first-hand these needs and progress being made on the ground in Hait Show Less -